Axe (3.5e Class)

Axe

“	There can be no battle till Axe is at hand. And Axe is.	”
—Mogul Khan, Oglodi Axe

As a grunt in the Army of Red Mist, Mogul Khan set his sights on the rank of Red Mist General. In battle after battle he proved his worth through gory deed. His rise through the ranks was helped by the fact that he never hesitated to decapitate a superior. Through the seven year Campaign of the Thousand Tarns, he distinguished himself in glorious carnage, his star of fame shining ever brighter, while the number of comrades in arms steadily dwindled. On the night of ultimate victory, Axe declared himself the new Red Mist General, and took on the ultimate title of 'Axe.' But his troops now numbered zero. Of course, many had died in battle, but a significant number had also fallen to Axe's blade. Needless to say, most soldiers now shun his leadership. But this matters not a whit to Axe, who knows that a one-man army is by far the best.

Making an Axe

Abilities: Strength, Constitution and Charisma are all candidates as the most important abilities to the Axe. The Axe's choices at their "A Cut Above" levels will dictate how they advance.

Races: Any race that can wield an axe can become Axe, but physically strong, hardy races are more naturally suited for the way of Axe.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 5d6x10 gp.

Starting Age: As Fighter.

Table: The Axe

Hit Die: d8/10/12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	A Cut Above, Weapon Focus (Greataxe)
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Counter Helix
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Berserker's Call
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Battle Hunger
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	A Cut Above II
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Culling Blade
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Counter Helix II
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Berserker's Call II
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Battle Hunger II
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	A Cut Above III
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Culling Blade II
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Counter Helix III
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Berserker's Call III
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Battle Hunger III
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	A Cut Above IV
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Culling Blade III
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Counter Helix IV
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Berserker's Call IV
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Battle Hunger IV
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	A Cut Above V,
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Any) (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str).

“	Axe is all the reinforcement this army needs.	”
—Mogul Khan, Oglodi Axe

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Axe.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Axe is proficient with simple weapons and the Greataxe and light and medium armor, but not with shields.

A Cut Above: The Axe gains specialized class features at levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20. Only one of the paths (Str, Con or Cha) can be chosen at each 5-level interval, but the Axe may mix and match which paths they take along the way. These decision cannot be reversed without magic/psionics capable of retraining feats.

Str Path I: HD becomes D10, Gain Power Attack as a Bonus Feat. +1 Str

Con Path I: HD becomes D12, Gain Heavy Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat, +1 Con

Cha Path I: HD becomes D8, Will Saves become Good (Matching Fort), +1 Cha

Str Path II: Gain Cleave and Greater Cleave as bonus feats. If you already have either, gain Fighter Bonus Feats in their place. +2 Str

Con Path II: Gain Natural Armor equal to Conmod. +2 Con

Cha Path II: Successful Saves against Berserker's Call and Battle Hunger cause the subjects to become Shaken. +2 Cha

Str Path III: Add 2 to the crit range of Slashing Weapon of your choice. +3 Str

Con Path III: Berserker's Call taunt and DR lasts 1d2 rounds. +3 Con

Cha Path III: Berserker's Call AOE increased to 25 feet. +3 Cha

Str Path IV: Increase Counter Helix damage by 1xStrengthmod. +4 Str

Con Path IV: Gain Fast Healing equal to Conmod. +4 Con

Cha Path IV: When the Axe successfully kills a target with Culling Blade, all valid targets within 25 feet become targets of a Battle Hunger curse and must roll will saves as normal. The Axe gains a bonus of 5 movement speed per affected target. +4 Cha

Str Path V: No one, not even creatures lacking a discernable anatomy, can be immune to critical hits from the Axe, including Culling Blade criticals, as they represent a surge in strength rather than a well-aimed strike. +5 Str

Con Path V: Berserker's Call Damage Reduction becomes 25/epic. +5 Con

Cha Path V: No one, not even mindless creatures, can be immune to berserker's call or battle hunger. +5 Cha

Counter Helix (Ex): At 2nd level the Axe learns to transfer the force of their enemies' attacks into a cleaving, spinning counterattack. Any time an enemy makes an attack roll against Axe and gets a natural roll (without modifiers) of 3 or less, regardless of whether or not the attack beats the Axe's AC, the Axe spins 360 degrees and slashes at all creatures within reach. All creatures within reach roll a Ref Save DC 10 + Strmod for half damage. Failure results in damage equal to Strmod. Counter Helix counts as an attack of opportunity for the purposes of combat reflexes feat, etc. The Axe must be wielding a slashing weapon (such as an AXE) to use this extraordinary ability.

Counter Helix II: Ref Save DC 10 + 1.5xStrmod, Failure results in damage equal to 2xStrmod.

Counter Helix III: Ref Save DC 10 + 2xStrmod, Failure results in damage equal to 3xStrmod.

Counter Helix IV: Ref Save DC 10 + 2.5xStrmod, Failure results in damage equal to 4xStrmod.

Berserker's Call (Sp): At 3rd level the Axe learns how to perform a spell-like war shout that enrages their enemies and protects the Axe from harm. As a standard action cause all creatures within 10 feet who are already hostile towards the Axe to roll a Will Save (DC 10 + Chamod) or go into a barbarian-like rage in which they may not cast spells, manifest powers, use more subtle skills, etc., (See Barbarian Rage) and they are forced to focus their attacks specifically on the Axe for 1 round. The Axe also gains DR 5/Magic for 1 round. The Axe may use Berserker's Call a number of times per day equal to their Chamod + 1 and after being used, the Axe must wait on a 2d6 +1 round cooldown before using it again. Enemies who cannot hear or are immune to mind affecting or rage would be unaffected by Berserker's Call.

Berserker's Call II: Will Save DC 10 + 1.5xChamod, DR 10/Magic, 2d4 +1 round cooldown

Berserker's Call III: Will Save DC 10 + 2xChamod, DR 15/Magic, 1d6 +1 round cooldown

Berserker's Call IV: Will Save DC 10 + 2.5xChamod, DR 20/Magic, 1d4 +1 round cooldown

Battle Hunger (Sp): At 4th level the Axe learns a curse that causes the subject to feel a primal hunger to kill something...anything! The Axe selects 1 target within 50 feet and, as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, curses them. The action looks much like casting a spell, as it contains V and S components, but it is a Supernatural Ability. The subject rolls a will save DC 10 + Chamod or begins feeling a deep lust to kill something and taking 1d6 damage per round. While the target is cursed, they lose 5 speed from all movement speeds and the axe gains 5 speed in all their already present movement speeds. The Axe may gain a total speed bonus equal to 5 per Axe level from multiple cursed targets. (See A Cut Above: Cha Path IV) The curse ends when the subject kills something with at least 1 HD. Destroying undead or constructs with at least 1 HD also purges the curse. If the subject does not manage (or chooses not) to kill something with at least 1 HD after 1d3 + chamod rounds, the curse comes to an end automatically. The Axe may use this ability 1 + Chamod times per day with a 2d4 round cooldown in between castings. Remove Curse or Dispel Magic would be effective at removing Battle Hunger.

Battle Hunger II: Will Save DC 10 + 1.5x Chamod, 2d6 damage per round, 1d6 round cooldown

Battle Hunger III: Will Save DC 10 + 2x Chamod, 3d6 damage per round, 1d4 round cooldown

Battle Hunger IV: Will Save DC 10 + 2.5x Chamod, 4d6 damage per round, 1d3 round cooldown

Culling Blade (Ex): At 6th level the Axe learns to deliver a killing blow to low-hp foes with one brutal chop to the head (or other vital region). The Axe may attempt this killing blow as a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The Axe rolls an attack with their melee weapon of choice with a -4 penalty (for targeting the vital region) and if the attack beats the target's AC and they have 25% or less hp, the attack is an automatic critical with an additional crit multiplier of +1x. If the target dies, the Axe gains 10 movespeed for 2 rounds. If the target survives or the Axe misses their attack, Axe is unable to perform Culling Blade again for the rest of the day. Targets that are immune to critical hits are immune to the critical damage as normal.

Culling Blade II: Crit multiplier + 2x.

Culling Blade III: Crit multiplier + 3x.

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Classes → Base Classes

-->